POMONA – When the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series gets under way today at Pomona Raceway, two veteran drivers will be sporting new, if not uncharacteristic, paint schemes.

Those are just two of the many changes that will be on display on the first day of the 49th Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals.

Qualifying for sportsmen racers starts at 8 a.m. while the three professional classes – Top Fuel dragster, Funny Car and Pro Stock – make one pass at 2 p.m.

Fans are going to pay special attention when 14-time Funny Car champion John Force and six-time Pro Stock titleholder Warren Johnson stage their races at Fairplex. While the factory nameplate is the same, the color scheme will be altogether different.

Force’s Ford Mustang will sport a golden hue, symbolic of the new product being rolled out by Castrol, his main sponsor for 24 years. The contract with John Force Racing includes the car driven by Ashley Force Hood and the oil company will be an associate on JFR Fords driven by Robert Hight and Mike Neff.

“Castrol has been with me for all my wins and all my championships,” Force said at Wednesday’s unveiling of his car at Pomona. “It’s exciting for me to be able to help them launch a new brand, Castrol Edge. We had the Edge car at the Super Bowl last week and this week our goal is to get it into the winners’ circle.”

Force, who made an emotional return to Pomona last February after a near-fatal crash in September 2007, will be competing in his 31st Winternationals.

“This will be the first time, with the exception of our Elvis and Superman cars, that I’ll be in something other than green and white,” said Force, sporting a gold shirt as well. “We’re in the entertainment business, and even in a depression, people need to be entertained.”

On the eve of his 36th season opener, Johnson announced a sponsorship deal with Riverside-based K&N Engineering, which produces air and oil filters. According to industry sources, Johnson’s Pontiac will have a black paint scheme, far different than the red, white and blue of past seasons.

There was concern Johnson might be on the sidelines when he lost the GM Performance Parts sponsorship following the 2008 season. However, intense discussions with K&N were fruitful.

“In today’s economic environment, I know what it takes for a company to invest in any marketing program,” said Johnson, winner of 96 NHRA national events. “K&N Filters are the first of what we hope will be a series of sponsors that will occupy the primary position on our Pontiac, and I would like to thank Steve Williams who was instrumental in putting this together.”

Known as “The Professor” for his approach to innovations in the class, Johnson said was involved with “some development work with Steve and his staff at K&N for the past two years.

“They are a forward-thinking group, which is what it takes to succeed in this market. Our primary goal, at this moment, is to get our K&N Filters GXP ready for its debut in Pomona.”

There won’t be any physical change to the look on Antron Brown’s Top Fuel Matco Tools entry, but there was plenty of drama for the team in the offseason.

Brown finished the 2008 season in November in fifth place behind Tony Schumacher with a pair of victories. But shortly thereafter, the changes started.

Dave Powers, who owned the team, sold it to Orange County businessman Jimmy Buckley’s 3B Racing on Dec. 1. On Jan. 14, Buckley sold the team to Mike Ashley, the former Funny Car team owner.

The team’s other change was ion the crew chief department. Lee Beard departed after the season, to be replaced by Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald, the 1984 Funny Car champion. In an ironic twist, both Corradi and Oswald worked on the Melanie Troxel Funny Car in 2008, which started the season being owned by Ashley.

When Ashley dropped out of the sport, Roger Burgess took over, but folded his team two days before Christmas.

“It’s been a crazy off-season, but our team is really coming together with Brian and Mark calling the shots,” said Brown, whose Matco sponsorship with Ashley Racing was extended through 20010. “I really think we’re going to surprise some people with our race team and why not by having a strong first race at Pomona?”

At preseason testing at Phoenix in January, Brown posted the quickest run at the National Time Trials, a full run of 3.781 seconds at 316.45 mph. Although unofficial, it was the second quickest 1,000-foot elapsed time ever recorded (next to a 3.771 seconds, by Tony Schumacher).

“We’re looking forward to getting back in the mix of racing,” said Corradi. “It’s been a long off- season and we’re ready to race. We’re still learning how to run this dragster.

“We know how the motor runs, but we’ll have to see how the track conditions are before we make the final call.”

Lou Brewster is a nationally recognized motorsports journalist who has staffed NASCAR and NHRA events since 1969. Has also staffed high school football, in five different states, since 1967. Has won several national awards in writing and breaking news.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.